To be honest, the troops here seem a bit disappointing at first glance, but after going a bit deeper, some of them may not actually be that bad… lets look at them (alphabetically):

Gnoll: Let’s just look at this from an arena standpoint. For 10 mana, we deal 6 damage to a random enemy… that’s bad. HOWEVER, if it hits brown, it does 18! The bad thing is the randomness, while you may have a 25% chance to one shot something (since its unlikely two troops will use brown), its very inconsistent. The reason why Kerberos is good is because it is does a decent amount with a 25% chance to win the game. This troop is does something bad with a 25% chance to be really good (and that is assuming that a brown troop still exists).

Gorgon: Of all the troops, this has the most potential. While much slower than the Centaur Scout, and random, its damage can go through the roof. (I need confirmation here) but with a x2 (TIMES 2) boost ratio, where usually one row will have 3 red gems (which it wants to recharge anyways) We destroy a row and deal 12 damage (in arena) to an enemy. Who cares if its random when you have crazy damage like that (similar to Frost Giant) and you destroy a row on top of it, so you could even get an extra turn! Even with two reds, 10 damage is still good. This could maybe see a bit of constructed play, but red and especially brown are pretty heavily contested in constructed right now.

Hydra: At first glance, this thing looked bad, then I looked at it again and said, oh, this thing is probably OP. Alright, so it uses red and blue, which makes it compete with Crimson Bat (although many people don’t have this one), so it better be pretty good. It has 10 attack, which is Kerberos level, 17 life and only 5 armor, so its life can be exposed easily (especially with Webspinner and Venoxia combos). At its worst, it deals 15 damage randomly among enemies, for 18 mana, this is pretty bad. But its x2 ratio that is the difference. Pair this with Summoner or Bullroarer (don’t pair it with Fire and Ice since they both use the same types) and you could really make this something. The problem is that it does kind of need to get weak, and it could be killed when you least want it to. It does belong in the first spot. But lets say it has 5 life left and you get its ability off, well there is 39 damage for you… yes, 39! Even if it only gets that ability once before it dies, that could just win you the game right there! Experiment as you please and you could reap some nice wins.

Skeleros: Epic troop that destroys 8 skulls then creates five… that’s pretty bad. Alright, so basically it does 8 damage (assuming there are 8 skulls on the board), then creates five (which you got rid of most of them) so its very hard to combo, and you are more likely to set your opponent up. The best case scenario (bar being REALLY lucky) is 8 damage for 11 mana w/o being punished… that’s just not good enough.

Soothsayer: This could be decent in arena, but I’ll have to test it… Elwyn is its biggest comparison. So Elwyn deals random damage based upon how many yellows are destroyed, which is usually between 5 to 7. The thing is this one can only target a purple gem, and instead of damage everyone gets 1 magic. But its 3 less mana than Elwyn’s ability. All in all, this ability is probably slightly better than Elwyn’s due to being less mana to cost, and combining this with Sun&Moon could be deadly. Considering Elwyn was used slightly in 1.0.5 (before more troops were added), this could be pretty good, but its purely a support troop since you can’t rely on this ability doing damage… don’t forget you could get an extra turn, but the fact that you may not be able to target that perfect gem could be pretty big, very tanky too.

Sunweaver: Increase life, attack, armor and mana by 6… now that I have clarification, this is the best support in the game. It GIVES you 6 mana toward your ability, then 6 life, attack and armor…so why would you ever use Sparkgrinder with this card available? Its giving you good stats, but do keep in mind it is a support troop, so running 2+ could be dangerous, but running one of could be commonplace for a card like this!

Tauros: For 1 less mana than Reaver, you get 5 attack to the first two enemies, while Reaver usually gets 5, maybe 6 scaling off reds. The fact that this doesn’t need scaling is great, and it has more of an HP pool to work with and with 10 life it won’t be one shot by true damage… oh, but it needs to be damaged. Now this troop is pretty bad in arena. Deal 5 damage to the first enemy for 7 mana is not nearly enough, really bad, and while your opponent could have AoE, he is too inconsistent to use otherwise and he could be targeted once his life is exposed. Too inconsistent to trust in arena.